Hvorfor er det så stille?

So Athena I’m not entirely sure how or when we decided Rover and PK should have a thread, just that it was going to involve a guitar and they were going to ROCK OUT, but then something neither of us expected blossomed from a five minute interaction. If I’m remembering correctly, this entire thing started off when Rover was walking down the hall and heard some music playing from the radio room — obviously, he’s going to follow it. Why wouldn’t he? So he gets there and hovers by the door and watches this pretty girl play on her guitar, completely obvious to him standing there. He even turned down his own music so he could hear it better. The entire thing was very much like the start of a romance movie, and had his voice not been as high pitched as it was, even his first comment would have been smooth.

But then PK grabs her whiteboard and starts writing, and the second she does Rover’s gut drops and his heart sinks and he’s suddenly TRAPPED, he’s considering just BOLTING IT and forgetting this even happened, that he even stopped to talk to her, and that’s not because she can’t talk, but because he doesn’t know how to read Japanese (or barely, he’d need to sit down and concentrate for a long time). It doesn’t matter that she can’t talk — that never mattered to Rover, because some people are just different, and that doesn’t mean anything (see: his limbs), but the fact that he might not be able to understand her one way of communicating sits in his stomach the wrong way. It’s not like he wouldn’t try, but he just doesn’t want to be a pain. He doesn’t want her to get tired of him sitting and very slowly trying to read out each word out, and like just generally being really inconvenient? So they’re both mildly freaking out, PK because he looks lost and is scared he won’t understand her, and Rover that he’s going to be too much trouble to deal with in general, and then like a second later PK writes really awful English and the tension.. very, very slowly ebbs off.. And Rover covers all his nerves with rambles, getting off topic and confusing himself.

He doesn’t get too far into the conversation before PK quite suddenly and without much warning to why takes his wrist and pulls him, sets him down in the chair she was just sitting in. And he freaks out, albeit silently, because nobody is allowed to touch his hand or wrist or even really his arm if we’re getting really into it, and he’s already on an edge because of the white board thing (yeah, she’s writing in English, but she clearly isn’t good at it, so she’s probably thinking how much easier it would be if he just could read Japanese), so PANIC, CONFUSION, FEAR,

AND THEN ??? HE’S PLAYING THE GUITAR ???

Lots of emotions very quickly, lots of feelings that I probably don’t really need to get into because it’s pretty clear?? Like it’s one thing if he’d lost his limbs and stopped being able to play the guitar, but this is the first time he’s playing, the first time anything like this has happened. So OBVIOUSLY he’s getting emotional, and then PK writes a little thing to him, one that he only actually ends up reading up to “you can do anything you want” and he’s looking away and rubbing his eyes..

Which is? So nice… that’s so, so nice to say to him… he’s grown up trying to convey that message through his actions, to prove he’s able to do just as much as anyone who has two arms and two legs. But it’s hard, because at the end of the day he can’t. Like he physically CAN’T. And it SUCKS to have to accept that, so he.. REFUSES to accept that. He tells himself over and over and over again that he can do whatever he puts his mind to, but there’s always reminders of how WRONG he is. Hearing it from someone else is literally the. Very best. Especially after what she just did for him. It means a lot to him. 

SO PK HAS SKYROCKETED TO THE VERY TIP TOP OF HIS LIST. They hang out for a bit after that, going up to her room to watch the Lego Star Wars on the little televisions they have up there, only to find they don’t ACTUALLY work, so instead they just sit on her bed and munch on snacks and chat about random things. Everything is? Really nice and cool and Rover’s PRETTY PUMPED about the whole deal because FRIENDSHIP… his nerves about the language stuff has faded away because she genuinely looks EXCITED to be able to talk to him, so awesome!!

A couple days later, after the first motive, PK and Rover decide on a whim they want to STEAL A DEER HEAD so they can mount it on Rover’s door because why the hell not. They meet up with Cerys and Yoshiki on the way down, who both just so happened to be looking for taxidermy, and then WHAM A BODY

Which was a big sort of revelation that oh GOD this is REAL. THIS KID JUST DIED RIGHT HERE, RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME, I WAS TALKING TO HIM A SECOND AGO? HOLY SHIT. So he freezes and PK panics, and she drags him away while he’s still processing what’s going on, and they both sink to the floor a few paces away and PK grabs his sweater and SOBS, and that’s what snaps him back.  

….Snaps him into realizing a few things at once actually.

First just confirming that he didn’t just make this up, that PK was distressed and upset so it HAD to be real, and then just what she was doing? That she’d tried to distance him and pull his gaze away from the body, TRIED to help him and protect him and that now she is SOBBING against him like?? Holy shit that’s never happened to him before? He’s usually the person sobbing, and now this girl, this small girl is holding him and crying her HEART OUT from fear and loss and even though he’s too shaken to really speak Japanese to her, he tries his VERY BEST to be a support to her?

SOMEONE IS CRYING AGAINT /HIM/, SOMEONE NEEDS /HIS/ COMFORT.. THIS IS.. REALLY HUGE!! THIS HAS NEVER HAPPENED!! She sparks this almost like… hero-adrenaline and DETERMINATION to PROTECT her. He gets super defensive, super protective, super ATTACHED. He makes a shaky promise that he’ll make sure she’s okay, and then NORIAKI approaches. PK’s mentioned his name a few times, but he doesn’t really have an opinion on him? But right now the idea that he’s got to PROTECT PK FROM EVERYONE is pretty dominate in his head, so it doesn’t really matter that PK is friends with him, Rover still doesn’t TRUST him. He squints, eyes him, and even though he agrees that they all investigate together, when Rover races around to investigate he’s always racing back and giving PK hugs and making sure this STRaNGER hasn’t done anything to her.

The investigation goes on and then. And then Rover discovers Noriaki is the murderer. It’s PK’s friend that killed Yoshiki, and he’s already made it up in his mind that he can’t just LET this guy go, he KILLED someone, and even though he’s PK’s friend he can’t… he can’t give him the go-free card. By the end of their conversation Rover feels ANYTHING but great. He’s kind of likes Noriaki now, but he’s going to have to reveal he’s the murderer, and more importantly for this star is. is what’s PK going to think? What’s PK going to think when she starts defending Noriaki during the trial but it’s ROVER who will confirm everything in the end, that will essentially get Noriaki caught? He’s doing this to PROTECT her, isn’t he? But why does it feel wrong?

Noriaki and Rover made a promise. A promise that revolved around PK. To make sure she’s okay, that because Noriaki might not be around anymore after this, that Rover’s going to have to look out for her.

And it’s true — Noriaki is killed and Rover backs up into the very far corner of the elevator and pulls his headphones up to his ears and tries not to hyperventilate. When the door opens up again it takes him a few moments to gather himself, remember that promise, and make a break for it. He searches the entire lodge looking for her, barely able to keep HIMSELF composed, reminding himself over and over and over again that he needs to PROTECT PK he needs to BE THERE for PK, and when he finds her in the freezer his heart,, totally sinks,,

He has no idea what to do. How is he suppose to protect her? Or… did he even protect her? He caught the murderer like he said he would, but that ended up hurting PK so… was it right? Did he do good? He can barely keep himself together right now, but he he has to try and keep a promise (and he… he promised her, too, didn’t? That he would make sure she was okay?) with the guy he just PRETTY MUCH KILLED and how does he even know if PK hates him or not?? He crosses the freezer and slides down into the spot next to her and he tries to form words but in the end he. He has nothing. He apologizes, tells her he isn’t good with stuff, apologizes again and… and she gets up and holds out a hand for him and they both just go up to either his room or her room and they PROBABLY JUST CRY LMAO

But after that they’re like. Glued to each other. They sleep curled up in the same bed and PK teaches him sign and when they aren’t hanging around each other, if they see each other in passing then they wave and sign hellos and it’s NICE… IT’S REALLY NICE…

And then he picks the night after motives to not sleep with her. She’s run off somewhere, talking to someone, out of her room, SOMETHING but she’s not around when he’s tried so he just goes to sleep and when he wakes up

PK is dead.

SHE’S DEAD. LIKE?? ?

It doesn’t register. Because? What the hell? Like honestly I’M writing this star and this feels WAY TOO SUDDEN… Everything was good and they were supporting one another and SHE JUST DIES. IT’S LIKE SOMEONE JUST CUT THIS OFF.. And like I think it’s the same kind of deal with Rover? That he isn’t REGISTERING THIS. He walks up to her body and tugs at her sleeve and asks if this is a joke because? This has to be a joke. SHE CAN’T, SHE..

AND HE CRACKS, OF COURSE HE DOES, AND HE’S JUST?? NO!! NO NO NO NO NO NO!! NO SHE CAN’T BE DEAD HE HAD PROMISES TO KEEP HE WAS SUPPOSE TO KEEP HER SAFE HE… THE ONE DAY HE DIDN’T… IF HE JUST WENT TO FIND HER WHEN HE WAS TIRED THEN MAYBE…. Her body is taken down and Rover holds her and just BAWLS for a good chunk of time, only eventually pulls away because he HAS to find her killer he HAS to put her death to justice HE…. but it still really hasn’t CLICKED, like sure it’s her body, and yes he cried over it as a natural reaction, but his mind hasn’t really completely wrapped its head around the fact that there is no more PK. That when this investigation is over he won’t get to hang out with PK. She’s gone, and he doesn’t completely understand that. 

They don’t end up finding her killer, and Rover doesn’t know what think. He… let her down, didn’t he? Her killer is still around to kill someone ELSE, which?? Man he has NO IDEA what to think, so he distracts himself with the fact the lodge is now open and he can SEE THE STARS. He sits out and stares at them all night long, until his neck hurts and he has to lie down on the ground instead. He tries not to think about PK, because if he does he starts getting confused and upset and FRUSTRATED with himself. But yeah he just distracts himself the best he can, probably passes out when he’s EXHAUSTED so he doesn’t have to think about the fact he’s now not sharing a bed with anyone anymore. He talks to Bopper Raspberry mostly, because if Rover couldn’t keep one promise to Noriaki, and a promise to PK, maybe then at least he can keep a promise to a fish. Bopper probably knew all of Rover’s spoilers like. right off the bat. he just GETS EVERYTHING OFF HIS CHEST….

So then Rover dies. 

(and he breaks his promise with BOPPER NOW)

The first person that shows up at his door is… PK! …PK? WAIT YEAH PK SHE’S ALIVE!! AND SHE CAN TALK? WHATEVER SHE’S ALIVE!! He’s like? He’s got this really weird feeling about what’s going on, and PK’s clearly upset by something, but AGAIN, HE JUST DISTRACTS HIMSELF, because NOTHING MATTERS asides from the fact that it was just a dream (lol), PK is fine!! PK is fine. Only she doesn’t really last that long and she just starts CRYING and admits that he’s actually dead, that they’re both dead, and Rover like. HAHA NO WE’RE NOT. WE’RE PERFECTLY FINE.

(Which is? honestly less that he wants to deny that she’s dead, but more of the fact that that means that HE is dead, and HE can’t be dead, no way! not today! not yet! that means he’s been taken away from his parents and! nope!) 

PK passes out from previous stress and this stress and he picks her up in a really awkward?? One arm/half-arm thing and carries her into his room, sets her down in a chair and covers her with his star blanket. It’s around this time the trial has ended so he like?? Has started to remember things, and all this anger and hurt is starting to bubble in him, but he still takes a second to just. Pause and stare at her and let his chest sort of swell up because she’s HERE, and okay maybe he’s dead but for like one second before the rage really hits him he reaches out and brushes her bangs out of her face and very briefly considers kissing her forehead like she’s done to him before but just NAH and leaves. He confronts Hibiki and Suffers in Many Ways and they don’t see each other until the next trial. 

And next trial comes around and it’s… oh GOD CERYS… and PK FLIPS OUT FOR GOOD REASON?? She’s by the elevator crying and panicking but Rover can’t go over to help her because he can’t leave Aya’s side right now, she JUST died, she NEEDS him, Rover has to be there for her, so he shoots Noriaki a glare, an order to go comfort her, but HE DOESN’T THANKS NORIAKI… It sits really, really badly in his stomach that he didn’t go over to comfort her, like,, really bad,, Even though he DID break his promise about making she she’ll be okay when she died, it’s still like? lingering? He’s super guilty about it for the rest of the trial, and they find out SULLY KILLED PK /AND/ AYA AND OH BOY…. This weird mix of GUILT for not being there for PK when she needed him, plus ANGER towards Sully over killing PK (and Aya) in the first place?? God he can’t even go find PK after the trial to see if she’s okay because he’s SO PISSED OFF he just needs to sit outside and calm the fuck down before tracking her down again,,

They meet up after the next trial, during the… dead kid trials, where they actually get to talking about some?? Pretty deep stuff?? Rover apologizes for not coming over to her when he should have and PK explains, pretty vaguely, why it was she freaked out. Rover doesn’t really completely understand what HAPPENED to her, but he tries to comfort her, tries to assure that her that the surgeon maybe didn’t do it on purpose, maybe they made a mistake and it’s been bugging them for a really long time? Maybe they quit their job after that or maybe they got motivated to NEVER MESS UP AGAIN…. He admits to her that he sometimes… got mad at his mom, thinking that the reason she drank during her pregnancy was because she was trying to get rid of him, but she just didn’t get the job done so that’s why he is the way he is and she’s just been lying,, of course he. Knows that isn’t true, but when he’s really emotional it starts?? Feeling true?? So it’s his way of trying to comfort her fear,, like emotions making her THINK certain things that might not be true? WHEN IN FACT WE ALL KNOW THAT SURGEON DID IT ON PURPOSE RAAAAH

They talk a bit more, Rover tells her how cool she is and PK tells him how cool he is, they run around a bit to complete the trial and then they… And then Rover tells her she can call him Roland, is she wants. He explains that he only really lets his parents call him that, it feels really weird and wrong when other people do but, but he thinks it’s okay if…. If she calls him that.

WHICH IS… MM…. This is going into a little bit of? How he’s starting to feel towards her. Which is OBVIOUSLY LIKE, A REALLY GOOD FRIEND, HIS BEST FRIEND AT THIS POINT, but also? Like family. Like a sister. She’s there for him and supportive and they both REALLY CARE FOR EACH OTHER, but the way things have been playing out, he honestly does see her more as family than anything else? Which only grows more when they continue talking, and Rover asks her if she happens to have any hair dye? Because he wants to dye his hair back to black, and when she tells him HER natural hair color is black too, they both decide to dye their hair together.

AND AAAA… AAAA!! PKS REASONS STILL MAKE ME,, MM,, So they head to her room and PK digs out her hair dye and while they’re like setting stuff up I guess? Or sometime around then Rover explains that he looks a lot like his mom. Like when the two stand side by side he looks SO MUCH like her, but he stopped looking as much like her when he started dyeing his hair, which has been a while. And now he misses her, and he,, and he kind of reasons in his head that dying his hair back to its natural color will comfort him? Make him feel better… also like this vague sense of GROWING UP, but that’s mostly shoved down. But then PK explains to him about how she only dyed her hair red so she could NOT look like her parents, so she didn’t seem related to them at all. It’s totally… the opposite from what Rover’s wanting to do now, but she’s goes on to explain that she’s not going to dye her hair back to look like her parents, she’s going to dye her hair back so that she looks like ROVER’S family, so she looks related to ROVER…

A VERY.. SENTIMENTAL INTERACTION.. They finish up dyeing their hair and everything is REALLY NICE and HAPPY and then Rover goes off to do Miko a favor and on the way he probably literally ruins his own life in the process. nice going son. after the trial that follows messing things up for himself, when his scared and jittery and paranoid, she

FUCKING DIES AGAIn

AND ROVER RUNS INTO HER BODY!! NICE

AND THIS IS JUST AS SUDDEN AS THE FIRST ONE LIKE?? PK WHY EVERYTHING WAS SO HAPPY AND NICE AND THINGS WERE JUST STARTING TO LOOK UP!!

So Rover obviously goes into a panic, even WORSE than the first time she died, because none of them have ANY IDEA what’s going to happen when you die up in the mountain. Is she gone for good? Did he lose her again, forever? Noriaki explains that he just found her like that, and judging by the scene around her it looks like she fell from a ladder and snapped her neck. There’s no murder and there won’t be any investigation, it’s just… an accident. PK is just DEAD… and tbh I’m not sure if it’s THAT fact that makes Rover freak out to the extent that he does, that it’s just so REAL and an ACCIDENT or if it’s because this is the second time it’s happened and he honestly thought they were going to be okay? she promised him she wouldn’t leave him ever again and now she’s?? Gone?? IS SHE GONE FOREVER…

He can barely BREATHE and considers forcing himself to pass out because OOHH GOD HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THIS, SHE’S TWISTED IN A HORRIBLE WAY AND THERE’S BLOOD AND HER EYES ARE STARING AT THE CEILING AND OH GOD OH GOD CALLS USAMI UP AND BEGS HER TO FIX THINGS

He breaks down, completely, and clings to Noriaki to keep him on stable ground and when he cries himself out they stick together, hang out and try to distract themselves from what might happen to their friend.

(and cracks up bc pk dying was what really brought noriaki and rover together) 

It takes like a few days but PK IS BACK, only they don’t actually cross paths because I think PK is scared to face him? Either way they don’t see each other until much later in the trial, which happens to be Hana’s trial,, which also happens to be when they catch Miko,, and Rover’s on the floor NOT HAVING A GOOD TIME. Hana crawls over to cheer him up but PK chimes something over to him and he looks over and !! INSTANT RELIEF… LIKE!! LIKE SHE’S OKAY THANK GOD…

They don’t really get a chance to REALLY interact during that trial, but Rover leaves while the execution is going, as does PK, and they meet up in the lounge and PK starts RAMBLING, trying to cheer him up and trying to apologize and she uses cool metaphors and just TALKS AND TALKS and ends up saying how much she? Cares about him? How cool he is and finishes with saying that

She loves him.

Rover’s too much of in a daze to totally reply, plus she sort of skedaddles after that, but he gets distracted with Miko things right after that so he doesn’t get to really? Think about that? It isn’t until a bit later, during the NEXT trial, that when he sees PK curl up against the elevator doors does what she says really kind of? Wash over him? Like he was THINKING about what she said to him before, but it was kind of more this?? vague sense of registering. like huh. Huh she loves me? That’s… hmm… like it not REALLY COMPLETELY CLICKING about what that means, or what SHE meant by that, because he’s numb and tired and worn out because Miko’s death REALLY took a big toll on him and he’s just?? So tired of all of this.

But when he sees PK alone, sitting there, HIS feelings start to surface. He looks at her and there’s this overwhelming amount of care and LOVE… so he walks over and sits next to her, and he starts talking, apologizing for not being around as much as he should considering he’s her friend and he made her promises, and then he shifts himself around so he’s just in front of her, leans forward so their foreheads touch and their noses squish and he tells her he loves her too.

HE TELLS HER HE LOVES HER……

Now Rover? Like Rover loves a lot of people, he’s a REALLY EMOTIONAL KID WE ALL KNOW THAT, but there’s something Extra Special about when he tells it to her, because it’s different than FRIENDSHIP love, it’s like?? FAMILY… LIKE HE’S HONESTLY SO ATTACHED TO HER,, THEY HAVE THEIR BUMPS BUT EVERYTHING ABOUT PK HE JUST? ABSOLUTELY ADORES… She’s fun and funny and knows what to say and excitable and they LIKE so much of the same things it?? It makes sense.

But when he says that it it becomes really clear (at least for us bc. We both knew) that PK doesn’t mean love like how Rover means it, she means it as in she honest to God romantically loves him.  

Well hecko.

… And then we have the kiss.

In context, basically what happens is Rover, PK, and Noriaki were out on a Bayou trip together. Noriaki was still checking out something they found and Rover and PK left to go back to the boat. They’d planned to move and hide the boat to prank Noriaki, but it wasn’t working, so they sat next to each other and Rover was rambling about different ways they could move the boat, and when he looks over to her to ask what she thought, she stutters and then… just kisses him. Impulsively. A.. BIT OF A HUGE THING FOR A BOY THAT STILL MAKES FACES WHEN HE SEES PEOPLE SMOOCHING… PLUS THIS IS?? PK??? She gives him two kisses — the first quick, something a lot like when she kisses his cheeks and forehead, so within those first few seconds he can probably like?? COME UP WITH AN EXCUSE FOR IT…  PROBABLY… MAYBE SHE JUST MISSED HIS CHEEK? OR SOMETHING LMAO

But when she pulls away she doesn’t break the distance, and she hovers close and then leans back in for ANOTHER kiss, like an ACTUAL kiss this time

AND ROVER’S ???????????????? 

like he is a CHILD, he has absolutely no idea what’s going on or WHY this is going on yeah okay it does start feeling kind of good, so he doesn’t actually push away for a little bit, but when they do it comes crashing down on what just happened and man it’s SO AWKWARD, Noriaki comes back and they sit next to each other BURNING UP and Noriaki kind of eyes them like “I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT HAPPENED HERE” and the second he can he bolts off to hide.

AND DON’T YOU LOVE TEENAGE GROWTH… I SURE DO… because now Rover’s stuck sorting out his feelings. Which is pretty much: I.. think I liked that?? If I liked that then does that mean I like her? Or does it mean just I like kissing?? If I almost kissed her back does that make me a bad person if I don’t like her?? How do I even know I don’t like her like that?? I mean I love her but?? Is that love love or family love or? ?? MM NORMAL TEENAGE THOUGHTS.. BEAUTIFUL…

Like simply put, Rover’s really slow to develop romantically/sexually. Naturally he’s a really late bloomer, but he’s hardly ever been exposed to that sort of thing either! Sure, he’s got his parents, he has movies, but it’s very rarely around his age? It’s more of a grown-up thing, something pretty foreign to him. Since he didn’t have any friends, he was never around kids that dated, or talked about their crushes, or gossiped about who was dating who… it just never really was a thing, so he didn’t think about it and never got curious about it enough to explore it himself! So while he likes PK a lot, he doesn’t look at her as anything more than that. It doesn’t mean that he isn’t capable of doing so, but it just means that as of this moment, he isn’t looking at people in that way. It isn’t even a “my friend is attractive, but I don’t like her like that” because he… doesn’t even see her as sexually attractive? HE KNOWS SHE’S PRETTY, AND IF HE ACTUALLY KNEW WHAT “SEXUALLY ATTRACTIVE” MEANT AT IT’S LIKE, CORE-CORE, THEN HE’D PROBABLY THINK THAT TOWARDS HER AS WELL. BUT HE DOESN’T. He hasn’t gotten to that point in his development yet.

(bee voice: LeT’S WRITE A BOY GOING THROUGH PUBERY IN A MUTUAL KILLING SETTING YEAAAAAH)

So anyway they AVOID EACH OTHER until the trial, because they’re both flustered and Rover’s confused and re-evaluating what it was SHE meant when she told him he loves her and what exactly HE meant when he told her he loved her, so it’s just a lot of ????? But every time he catches a glimpse of her in the hall they both go red and AVOID so it’s hard to?? Judge how he feels?? IF ALL THE TIME HIS HEART RATE PICKS UP…

But anyway it’s the very final trial, like just before endgame, and PK approaches Rover’s podium and they just… like a quiet sort of stare before PK signs an apology, and Rover takes her hand and doesn’t say a word because that’s his way of telling her it’s okay. She leans in and whispers something to him, WHICH I HAD SAVED SOMEWHERE BUT LOST IT…. But it was an apology for the kiss, I think? She just doesn’t want to lose him.

ROVER.. DOESN’T SAY ANYTHING.. LOL… but he squeezes her hand, and they enter endgame together like that.

AND… YES… WHAT A TRIP… endgame stuff happens and I guess they HEAD ON OVER TO DENMARK TOGETHER one way or another, and nah they don’t ever get together Rover turns her down but they STAY FRIENDS…  

To be completely honest I almost thought these two were going to be destined to never actually cross paths — we had that one thread that Rover was suppose to be in, with Shoko and Misaki and PK, but for reasons that I think meant I wasn’t sure how badly Rover would react to that I opted out, we had a thread planned and then Rover died, and after that there wasn’t a good reason Misaki would ever need to call Rover. PK and Misaki ended up being good friends, again this almost… hilarious WE’RE SO CLOSE BUT WE’RE NOT THERE YET relationship link, and then, despite it being really, really late in game, Misaki called him.

She called him!

And at the time Rover was getting close, really close, to believing that nobody was going to bother calling him anymore. Which is terrifying to him, absolutely terrifying to him. He used to wait for Miko to call him, like legit sit and wait for his keycard to ring because just the thought that he was going to be forgotten, that he’s just going to end up being that one kid that was dead under the radio room desk, crushed him. He would do anything in his power to get his keycard ringing. Need information? Can do! Want me to run around and gather as much as I can and report back? No problem! Check out different Bayou paths? I’ll drag along some people! Just, in exchange, keep calling me. Keep calling me keep calling me keep calling me… So the second Misaki is on the line with him (he hesitates for moment, out of pure resentment and bitterness of the fact he was sure no one else would bother calling him, why wait until NOW to call him, anyway? It’s so far into the game. He’s been dead for WEEKS. Miko was the only one he’s talk to, and now she’s dead, so who else was there? Of course he does answer, because he wants it, he wants it so bad), he doesn’t care who it is, so long as he can keep the conversation going.

His option on her at this point was pretty neutral, but probably leaning towards a more positive side? Just barely. She was smart, she was very active in trials, she was clearly one of the most headstrong people in this place — she had a goal and she was getting there no matter what (and, it seemed, without murder). He liked that! Her voice was welcomed in messy trials as something that would clear things up, and she didn’t take anyones shit. She wasn’t exactly the type Rover would really hang out with or call a friend as far as he was concerned, but she was very appreciated as an alive kid actively trying to get everyone out. He definitely could give her information that she could use, and they could probably keep calling because of that, right? Right.

Their conversations has a… bumpy start — she requests a favor and question. The favor is asked first, and he… can’t do it. Nice. Great start. He can’t go out to look at the stars for her, he just can’t. He would, God he would, but he can’t. And he instantly feels awful, because his whole plan was to be helpful, wasn’t it? His entire plan was to be of help so that Misaki would have a good reason to keep calling him back, but already he’s letting her down. He struggles desperately to explain himself, to offer up the information he gathered while he was out in the forest, but they move on quickly (he thanks the lord), and Rover starts… opening up a bit. He starts rambling, imitates Usami, and he’s giggling again before he knows it. Rover’s just? Honestly Rover’s just lonely. He just wants someone to talk to and the more they do talk, the more he’ll very slowly start acting how he used to. Before they go on, though, he asks a question:

What she thinks is up with the dead kids? How are they communicating, how are they still conscious? She explains that she and Shoko believe that the dead kids are data — AI, essentially, and that she is just talking to fancy computer junk. Not real. Dead.

So he gets shaky, confused, for obvious reasons. A computer program? How could she claim that he was data when he still had to eat food and brush his teeth before he went to bed and do his laundry and he was definitely… more than that. DEFINITELY. So he proceeds to do absolutely everything in his power to prove to her that she could be wrong. He brings up a theory with his adventures with the chimeras, and in mostly an attempt to grasp at straws and (potentially) give her an idea what it’s like to be called NOT REAL, he flips it around in some idea he makes up on the spot that hey, what if you’re the one in the machine, huh? What if when you die you wake up, and we can go back into the machine temporarily to observe, but in the end it’s YOU GUYS who are FAKE.

(Thanks Rover.)

That neutral opinion on her before is… gone, and is now something negative, if only because of her ([rover voice] DUMB) theory about the dead kids, but then it… just as quickly as it starts to form it begins to fade? Surprisingly enough, when Rover starts pitching her ideas, Misaki listens. She considers it, she raises him other questions, he answers them, but she actually considers it.

Which is… woah. He knew himself how stupid his theory was, he was cringing while telling it to her, but what a relief to have Misaki pause and think about it. Does she mean it honestly? WHO KNOWS… but it doesn’t matter to him. He used to get shot down SO FAST for his ideas and theories, things he actually believed in, and it’s exactly what he expected Misaki to do, but she doesn’t. She doesn’t, and it’s? Like he didn’t realize how nice it was to have someone be polite and. Consider. Tell him it’s not impossible. Rover had been prepared to get more defensive, but when she replies calmly, he’s ??? and… relaxes.

Maybe she isn’t convinced, but she has the potential to be convinced, and Rover grabs onto that shred of hope and RUNS WITH IT… In his mind, if he can get Misaki to believe that the dead kids are ALIVE, then he’ll have a really strong voice on his side. If he has Misaki, then she could probably convince a lot of other people, and if that happens then… then they might go looking for him, they might figure out where the dead kids are and get them out and they can escape!… or something!

They start doing trials to prove Rover can EXIST on the same plane as her. He comes to the radio room while they’re on a call, and just for fun, when he holds up his keycard to her face (his idea was that if she spoke through HIS keycard, and if HER voice echos through the radio room mic, it would prove that he was standing right there in front of her) he asks her to sing. And maybe, maybe she only played along so their partnership would be on a good start, but the second her voice lifts into a melody he goes… quiet.

Holds in a breath, doesn’t say a word. It’s like he’s trying to catch every single sound that’s coming out of her mouth and clinging to it. When was the last time he’d heard anyone sing? His mom, maybe?

Her voice echoes through the room, confirming Rover’s theory about the keycard thing, but JUST LIKE THAT, as SIMPLE AS THAT, Rover’s mind is more interested in Misaki, Misaki as a person, than just having her on his side with his theory. Of course it’s still really important, and he’s definitely going to keep trying to prove he exists, but now there’s something else, now there’s an interest.  

So, Rover being Rover, he starts to sing. He tells her a little story about how his mom used to sing what he just sang and they talk a little bit as they go onto the next trial, which is hiding under the radio desk and getting Rover to read what she’s written in her notebook. And for whatever reason I always pictured this being REALLY SWEET… the tension lifted, Rover’s teasing her (“For søren, Misaki. Getting a kid to crawl back in the place they died? Cruel, dude. Way too cruel.”) and he’s much less focused on his theory, rather.. he wants to know more about Misaki and who Misaki is. They’re both crammed up underneath the radio room table, and I NEVER REPLIED I’M SORRY but we talked in Skype how they would’ve spoken a bit, and eventually they make plans to actually go forward with Rover’s idea that they both go out in the forest together.

And this is big for BOTH OF THEM… This is Misaki putting a MASSIVE amount of trust into Rover, if he doesn’t show up then she could be DEAD. He realizes that amount of trust being put in him, and it’s… it’s great. He knows he’s probably not the most trustworthy of the group (he’s impulsive, he’s a kid), but Misaki, Misaki, is trusting him. Misaki who had said she believed he was an AI is trusting him enough that she will go into the forest with only a gun and Monorin by her side and trust that Rover is there. If he had any doubts that she was just playing along by saying she’ll “consider” what he said, he can very quickly toss that in the trash because MAN what she’s DOING. His opinion on her is getting higher and higher and higher, and not even just because of that, but because the two of them are stepping out and facing a REALLY FUCKING HUGE FEAR OF THEIRS together. Together. Just when this conversation started Rover told her he couldn’t go out at night. He couldn’t look at the stars, he couldn’t go into the forest, he just!! nope, nope noPE. There was absolutely no way he would be able face a chimera again.

But something… changes? Something definitely changes. Within a small conversation, Rover has decided he’d try to put aside his fear to help her, to prove his point too, of course, but…

There’s something about Misaki that he really likes. Maybe she’s really… tense, and has a strong drive, and the way she speaks sometimes confuses Rover because it’s just so intelligent, but she keeps surprising him. She keeps giving him a reason to stop dead in his tracks, his assumptions on her keep being wrong, and !!! he’s curious.

He likes her, he wants to keep talking to her, he wants to be useful to her. He pulls enough of those feelings out of himself to motivate him forward, even though he knows what’s going to happen at the end of this Forest Adventure (he’s gonna die), but it’ll be worth it. …It’ll be worth it!

And besides, besides, this is different. This is different than the first time he went out.

Now he’s going to be with someone.

There’s a small break between when they go out to do this, and between this time there’s a trial, and then Shoko calls him.

Shoko… calls him.

And he figures something out very fast when talking to Shoko and having previously talked to Misaki: Shoko is HELLBENT on believing the AI thing. It’s not very motivating, like at all, especially because he knows Shoko and Misaki are close, so how is he going to be able to convince Misaki if Shoko’s always going to be there to assure her whatever he says isn’t right?

By the end of that conversation he’s confused, ….somewhat satisfied, but still vaguely pissed off and bitter and WORRIED and jealous about the relationship between Noriaki (his best friend) and Shoko (someone he wanted to be friends with). When Misaki and Rover meet up at the correct times, Rover’s still has those… negative feelings towards the whole Shoko ordeal (WHICH HILARIOUS BECAUSE IT’S JUST.. JEALOUSY. THAT’S ALL IT IS. HE’S JUST JEALOUS THANKS ROVER) and he gets to thinking.

He’ll definitely keep trying to get on Shoko’s good side despite the whole AI thing (and other stuff), because he’s just a sucker like that, but right now that… doesn’t matter. Right now he is Misaki’s investigation partner, right now Misaki is trusting him to keep his promise and insure she doesn’t get chased by whatever chimera they run into. Right now, and for any time after this, Rover will be there to help Misaki with whatever he can.

So he enters the forest with a brave face (Misaki singing to keep her nerves down and Rover singing along with her, regardless to if she can hear him or not, and i would get into how that’s IMPORTANT but i’ll mostly just say it’s SWEET, LIKE JUST REALLY NICE TO CALM THEMSELVES DOWN..), baseball bat in hand and a few paces in front of Misaki, eyes flickering and watching to make sure no chimeras sneak up and go at her without him being aware. They run into one and — and his first thought is to run. His blood runs cold and all that FEAR he’s been having to deal with for WEEKS surfaces but! BUT HE WILL FACE IT.. HE CAN’T BACK DOWN… he taunts the thing and runs around, getting it to chase him around in the little clearing they’ve found — he keeps it up for as long as he can, until his chest is so tight he can’t breath, and his arms hurt so much from swinging at the thing, and eventually he does fall and the chimera gets him. Misaki races back to the radio room right after, probably a bit earlier so she could get a good headstart of running, and they hook up to talk and they

They just laugh. They laugh and laugh and they can’t BREATHE they’re laughing so hard, both out of how STUPID that was and that it actually WORKED and just this massive amounts of RELIEF that Misaki got out alive and Rover could dump a bunch of feelings out while he tried to fight that chimera. She offers to give him a high five, to which Rover replies he’s not even in the radio room, and she gets a bit flustered and Rover cracks a joke and it’s JUST NICE… LIKE IT’S REALLY NICE.

It’s this momentary break into this really awful place? This really nice reminder they’re both still kids and GOD WHAT KIND OF SITUATION ARE WE IN….!! THAT WE’D ACTUALLY FACE OF WITH REAL MONSTERS!! Rover’s probably laughing about a good chunk of other things at the same time, and he honestly probably starts crying in the middle of that. NOT BAD TEARS, HES STILL LAUGHING, BUT JUST… STRESS TEARS…

His opinion on her is shooting to the stars. He feels like that whole thing really would give her something to think about, and even if she doesn’t make up her mind right away, he knows he made a big dent in her opinion. Plus… that really fun? STUPID and DANGEROUS but… a lot of fun. Misaki has SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETELY broken out of the opinion Rover had that he wouldn’t really consider her someone he’d hang out with, and he… he’s wondering if he can refer to her as a friend in his head. Maybe they aren’t… there completely, but… but…! He wouldn’t mind doing something like that again? If they were out of here, if they were at school, and the two of them were running from an angry shop employee because Rover maybe set off firecrackers on a dare. Like he could see them being friends…

(Of course, investigations do come first, though.)

At any rate after that they start doing a weekly investigation call deal and exchange info and brief conversation (which is only one trial, the last trial, lmao), and Rover’s !!!!! because this is!! What he wanted this entire time!! To be actively useful to someone, to the living kids, to basically have a voice through Misaki into the living trial! HE’S SO HAPPY… LIKE… honestly if they’d started doing this a lot earlier there’s no way in hell he wouldn’t think of her as a really close friend, or would have started trying to get to know her more.

The very last trial, RIGHT BEFORE IT, they decide pretty randomly to just talk about mastermind stuff, didn’t they? Rover gives his opinion on what she read out for him, and then… FOR WHATEVER REASON, IT WAS HONESTLY JUST A FLIP OF A COIN IN HIS HEAD, ROVER DECIDES TO SHARE HIS CLUE… His clue, and then his opinion on his clue, and they’re cut off before they can go into TOO much detail about it, but in the end… IN THE END THEY DID IT… I mean, Misaki did it, but Rover’s pumping his fist in the air that he managed to help her in that win.

By the time the endgame decision rolled around, it was a no brainer that he request that Misaki leave. This was… what he assumed was fair. The alive kids won, they deserve to leave and get out of here as SOON as possible. So long as he was given the confirmation that they were ALIVE, then there was a HOPE that they could get out of there somehow. She deserved to get out, and while it would have been cool to get to know Misaki more than he did, I think he was satisfied with their relationship.

A quick summary of Hirashi and Rover’s relationship would probably be: we’re not totally friends but I’m friends/dating with your friend and I think you’re pretty cool but we’ve barely said like one word to each other so I don’t think we can consider each other friends, though I’m pretty aware of your existence and wouldn’t mind hanging out with you sometime or something?

Rover’s first opinion on Hirashi was a good one! It was during the first trial I believe, and PK and Hirashi were signing to each other. Rover met that with a HUGE relief because it meant that PK would have someone to talk to instead of just constantly scrawling on a white board! While he had no idea what they were saying, they both looked excited to be able to communicate to one another, so Rover can appreciate that! Hirashi was put in Rover’s good book, but they didn’t actually interact after that, nor did Rover have any real… like, motivation to talk to him. He was sure there. Alive. And… yeah. That motivation came later, when he found out about Aya and Hirashi’s relationship. He didn’t really check up on Aya as much as he felt he should have, and then suddenly WOAH OKAY SOMEONE IS CLOSE TO HER WHO IS THIS only he… didn’t really realize their relationship until Hirashi was dead lmao

And in THAT trial we have a silly kind of interaction, their FIRST interaction, with Rover shooting Hirashi some questions about the murder, and then about the murder weapon, and then casually is like “Haha, yeah I guess that confirms you killed Remi! Sucks dude!” and then moves on to the other murder case without even a care.

LIKE HIRASHI.. SURE DODGED A BULLET THERE.. Or maybe not totally? Because Rover never really held anything against the murderers, safe for Sully and Hibiki for a little bit, but Hirashi’s was so smooth and uncaring and it was probably honest to God just because of the PK thing? And that he kind of looked close to Aya.

But they don’t ever talk after that, only little glimpses at trials and silent acknowledgement of each other. Rover really honestly did think he was pretty cool, or so he hoped if Aya was spending all her time with him. For a while he just hoped he was treating her right, but after a few of his comments in trial Rover was actually kind of interested in getting to know him? MAYBE THEY COULD… TALK… HE COULD BE THE THIRD WHEEL AND AYA, HIRASHI AND HIM COULD HANG… MAYBE PAINT SOMETHING TOGETHER…

Only they never did, obviously, because I think some part of Rover was almost kind of intimidated to approach him outside of a trial? During trials Rover’s kind of on a high-horse because he actually KNOWS stuff, things others might not have figured out, so it’s easier for him to say things, but outside of a trial he’s standing next to this MUCH TALLER GUY who doesn’t really smile all too much and looked through really cool heart glasses and oh boy OH BOY HOW DO YOU ACTUALLY ASK SOMEONE TO HANG OUT.. NORMALLY…

This actually ended up being a pretty insightful star!! I apologize if you don’t… really want a giant massive blurb about Rover’s thoughts about himself…. BUT.. but Iori and Rover first met on the chandelier, when Iori jumped up to join Miko and him right after Shoko had yelled at them to get down. Rover wasn’t really sure if they were trying to stop them, but they were laughing and hollering so… You get good points in Rover’s book for going against ~the rules~, lmao. They fell, Rover thought it was hilarious and wondered if their plan the entire time was to have the chandelier fall. Iori was instantly up there in his book of rad people I should hang out with again, and he bolted off to avoid getting in trouble.

… That train of thought didn’t last too much longer than that.

The next time they interacted Iori was approaching him right after he’d seen someone drop dead in front of him, asking for questions and chiming far too lightly for Rover’s taste. He was pretty stressed out at the time, so Rover snapped at them and told them to buzz off. A bit later, when he was in a more clear state of mind, he actually felt bad about that? Like, when Rover snaps at people, he’s basically learnt that he won’t be talking to that person again? Basically he thinks messed things up with Iori before he could even try and form a friendship with them, so for the rest of the time he was alive, Rover didn’t interact with them. They were the one that took down PK’s body, which Rover was really grateful for, and he kept going back to thinking they could have been friends, they could of maybe been a support for one another if they’d maybe hung out, if Rover hadn’t snapped at him that one time.

(Like… okay, he probably didn’t actually mess it all up; his emotions were justified based on the situation and Iori doesn’t seem like they’d keep something like that to heart for too long, but Rover has it built up in his mind that if he acts out once, then he’s ruined it? So even if Iori doesn’t even think about that? He is. Maybe had this been in pre-despair he’d actually go up to them an apologize and try and make it better, but in despair he’s almost… scared.)

There was a small bump in this when Iori went up and started yelling at Shigeru… but Rover dies and he stops paying attention to Iori and the living kids as much as he used to, so he doesn’t think about the Shigeru thing again until later. If they say something or do something that stands out, then Rover’s obviously paying attention, but other than that… Iori kinda disappeared? They were there to comfort Cerys when she was acting out, and Rover was pretty grateful for that, but then trial five and…

… To be fair, this was the trial directly after Rover fucked things up for himself. So he was paranoid and scared of everyone, and Cerys is stationed right next to Rover, so when Iori comes over to comfort Cerys they’re right next to him. They’re talking and Iori is getting kinda like? A bit shaky, a bit off, and Rover is high-strung, and then Iori snaps Hirashi’s tablet in half and Rover FLIPS OUT. He gets SO SCARED at the sound and he’s playing with his baseball bat and he SWINGS THAT BABY RIGHT AT THE TWO OF THEM…

Rover swings a bat at them with enough force to probably give both Cerys and Iori a concussion. And then things started to… go downhill. On top of that incident, he’s starting to remember the Shigeru thing, and Iori starts acting… flighty. They start raising their voice and they start doing unpredictable things and they’re all over the place when they’re upset and who knows what they’re going to do. Maybe he’s dead and Iori can’t do anything, but just the unpredictability of them terrifies him.

Though the biggest thing is that Iori reminds him of himself. AND BOY OH BOY, THE FACT THAT IORI REMINDS HIM OF HIMSELF AND HE’S SCARED OF IORI IS GETTING INTO SOME DEEP, WELL BUIRED SHIT.

SO LET’S TALK ABOUT IT…

So!! Rover and Iori both have ADHD. I’m not sure of Iori’s diagnosis exactly, but the disorder is still present (or I! I remember lon you telling me that but I could be wrong?), and I can’t believe I had no idea about it when I was writing about Rover’s thoughts about them… Like, Rover’s opinion of his ADHD is… wishy-washy. On one had, it’s him. It’s who he is and he wouldn’t be who he was without it. It helps him when he excels in things he’s interested in, in that he has the ability to ultra-focus because of it. And he really loves that! As much as Rover’s opinion on himself is kind of everywhere, he really does like who he is as a person right now, and he wouldn’t be that way without ADHD. On the other hand, when he was younger, it was really, really bad and couldn’t control it it made him act out, it made him hurt people because he couldn’t understand normal social cues. Give him a joking nudge?? Rover’s thinking you want to be violent. He’ll push you over. And this got really bad when he got in school fights, because he was ruthless when he didn’t understand what was going on exactly, and fucking brutal when he did. When he found out aggression and misunderstanding was a normal thing for ADHD kids, he started getting scared of what it might make him do? Which is a reason why Rover is actually!! Scared of himself!! He’s scared that if he gets upset enough he won’t be able to control his thoughts and emotions and he’ll hurt people with his words or with his fist and he really doesn’t like doing that because he!! really loves people!!

And now he’s looking at Iori and he’s scared, and he’s seeing himself in Iori and… Yeah. Near the later parts of the game, and at the end of the game especially, Iori is the embodiment of who he’s terrified he’ll become? That he’ll let his emotions take control and put other people in risk and be so impulsive that nobody would really know if Rover’d pull that trigger or not — Rover himself wouldn’t even know if he’s going to pull that trigger or not.

Hibiki and Yue You were the first people Rover “formally” met in the lodge, and what a perfect two they were. Two people that, instead of letting their eyelids grow heavy and instantly shoot down his silly prank ideas, they met him with smirks and nods. Now like, before all this, Rover had never had this happen before. His childhood sucked, and when he started Lego Building he was more or less mostly in the company of senior builders and his parents. He had no friends, and all the students he met in school (when he wasn’t travelling), just never agreed with him that quickly, or like, at all.

So we’re five minutes in the game and Rover is looking at Yue You like a person he wants to hang around with. A person that he wanted to be in the company of again, at least until (he figures) she gets sick of how all over the place he is or he messes up and she ditches him. He’s used to it, so it doesn’t (it does) matter too much, but as long as they had a blast pulling pranks and causing trouble, he’s good.

And so they did that prank, and though when they pulled it she didn’t play along like Hibiki had, Rover thought she was hilarious. He adored her beatboxing, despite saying it… didn’t actually sound like beatboxing, and had Usami not locked away the PA system when she did, Rover would have definitely tracked her down again to attempt at doing that “your daily music” thing? I forget what it was exactly, but it was… something like that.

But then a kid died in front of him, he earned respect for said kid’s murderer right before he died, and then his friend was murdered. He… didn’t even get the chance to really think about Yue You and him hanging out again because everything was happening so fast.

The very, very last time Rover really like? “"interacted”“ with her was when it was revealed she ate her motive card and he gave her a thumbs up. Which isn’t… very much, but he was actually impressed she was hardcore enough to just. eat her motive card. like YEAH YUE YOU YOU SHOW THEM he knew there was like a 0% chance she killed P.K. so more?? proud that she didn’t give in to the other people hounding her.

Rover does like Yue You. He still does. Even if he didn’t see her around too much for a while, when he does see her she’s always… impressing him, in some sense. Standing up for what she believes in (and it helps that her opinion matches his a lot of the time) and doing it LOUDLY. That’s something he can? Really relate to? Like standing up for yourself and people you care about is really important to him – when he didn’t have anyone but himself, standing up for himself was… what got him by? For the most part. Like keep getting on your feet and SHOUTING to the world where you stand and you’ll take NONE OF THIS SHIT. He was rooting you on Yue You.

Her already-breaking voice cuts off in a cough that makes him wince, although he can’t be certain if it’s because of the crackling, hissing noise that bursts from his speakers, or the general fact that she’s coughing, and that even with their bad connection it sounds like someone just sucker punched her in the gut. He licks his lips before making a comment, and that split-second stall gives the girl across from him a chance to shoot him a look. It’s stern, clear even through the low-quality pixels of their video feed, and it makes Rover’s jaw clamp shut almost on instant. Her face relaxes, violet eyes soften, and the builder tries his best to put on a convincing smile. 

It’s sometime in the early New Years now, approximately two years and three months since Shoko, glassy-eyed, red-nosed and thick-tongued, fumbled her way through a Not Really confession five hours before he was about to jump on a plane with only a one-way ticket in his pocket. He tasted wine on her tongue that night, what the water he’d offered her hadn’t yet washed away, and the two of them curled up on the couch and counted down the hours, minutes, seconds until he had to peel himself away and leave her again. He remembers thinking, as he stepped into the crisp, dawn-bathed morning, about the first time he’d left — a cloudy afternoon after graduation, when he promised himself when he left Japan, he was leaving three years worth of feelings behind with it. He could get a good laugh out of that now, because apparently leaving those feelings in Japan just meant walking right back into them when he returned.

He didn’t make that promise a second time. 

Today, through the screen and into her tiny apartment, he can just barely make out the hints of white on the leaf-barren cherry tree outside her window. Shoko sits with her legs crossed, with the camera angled so he can see her from her waist up, her knees poking into the corners of the bottom frame. He can’t see her well, however, not through the dim lighting and the estimate 240p quality, or through the mask that hides her mouth and nose and the blanket he once bought on impulse one boxing day—fleece, with red, orange and yellow making up bright flames—that bundles her curvy form. 

“S’like mind-over-matter,” he’d told her, said blazing blanket draped over his arm in imitation of a matador cape. “You see the fire, fire is hot, and you feel warmer.” 

It had been a bullshit excuse for bringing home another thing to add to his belongings stored in her apartment, something to say in reply to the look she’d given him after he’d pulled it from the plastic bag. Shoko took a moment before speaking, to breathe and blink and shift her weight to her other leg, and then questioned where it was he was planning to put that — her closet was already mostly full of his stuff, slap chops and magic bullets using up pots and pan space, the drawers in her dresser crammed with whatever they couldn’t fit anywhere else, and she’d even had to store boxes under their bed, filled with silly knickknacks he’d collected and sent to her from street vendors across the world. 

Rover’s mouth opened, then closed, then his face twisted in that funny way it does when he’s trying to grasp at straws for an answer. She rolled her eyes lightly to his struggle, though a small half-smile tugged at the corners of her lips (she was used to this by now), and walked over to plant a whisper of a kiss on his jawline. If he wasn’t going to take it when he left next, she said to him, and he couldn’t find a spot for it, there are some kids in the apartment over two that would probably love it. 

Giving it to some kids was definitely not an option. 

He’d put it at the bottom of their bed, despite the ridiculous clash of moonlight-silver and bonfire-red, and though he thought as soon as he left on a plane it’d follow him right out the door, every now and again on chilly nights, he’d see the blanket pulled around her shoulders, hugged close. In his place, he supposed. 

Shoko was talking again. Something or another about Hiyoko, or maybe just chickens, but he could only pick out every other word. On normal days Rover might’ve jumped to the opportunity to play a guessing game, but today he longed for a kind of warmth that the sunlight dripping through his balcony door couldn’t offer. He exhaled, interrupted her. 

“Shoko? Shoko I—” 

She trails off, pauses.

“… I can’t hear you properly.”

And that so-simple fact makes his chest ache much more than he’d care to put to words. But Rover’s good at putting on smiles, at rambling and laughing and shining off a light even when he’s close to being burnt out. The smile he wears is a sad one, a lonely one, and Shoko understands without words.

The call ends on a soft “jeg elsker dig” that he isn’t sure got through, and not even a solid second after the video feed falls, Rover is reaching for his phone on the bedsheets beside him. His thumb slides out his code, taps the yellow app, and he snaps a picture of himself to her. A picture returns a few seconds later, with the blonde now lying down, mask removed. Her smile is tired, but it still reaches her eyes. 

He cracks a grin, sends over a reply.